Did this mountain after touring Capulin Volcano earlier in the day so I got a very late start. I got chased off the summit by a boom of thunder directly over my head when the storm clouds rolled in. No lightning but still very unwise of me. Two hours and twenty minutes up and four hours thirty minutes door to door from the Cordova Pass trailhead.

First big mountain climb. Great weather. Climbed traditional route from West Spanish Peak Trailhead. Left trailhead and 8AM, treeline at 9:15AM, summitted at 11:15AM, arrived back at trailhead at 1:30 PM. Last 1500 vertical feet are steep and rocky. Great climb though. Ready for a 14er.

This peak was a treat. Those dike formations are incredible and of course only appreciated from above. My eight month old puppy and I were on the summit by 7:45 and we had the place to ourselves for an hour. This was her first summit over 10k.

Climbed the SW ridge route from Cordova Pass with Shawn and our dogs. Nice day! It was supposed to be windy across most of the state, but we found a pretty good spot today. Encountered more snow on the road from Cuchara Pass than we did on the route - both were essentially snow free. The restroom was locked, and the fee station had no envelopes.

Both Kessler and I had a cold and as mentioned on the Mt Lindsey log we decided to spend some time outdoors rather than stay home and infect everyone.

We got a late start for West Spanish Peak and didn’t leave the trailhead until 9:15 AM. We made our way as quickly as we could up the mountain and summited at 11:35 AM, which wasn’t too bad considering that Kessler is 10 and we both had colds. It was slightly windy on top, but not nearly as much as the day before. It was still a bit hazy from the forest fires as well.

We met two other people on the summit (one of which we passed on the way up) and ate a good lunch before heading back down. We made our way quickly down the mountain since it was a long drive back home.

This was my first attempt at climbing any mountain, but have been vacationing in Cuchara for years and the massive mountain could not be ignored. We left the trail head at 7:20 and got to the treeline at 9:00, taking time for brunch. The attack to the summit was daunting. It took us 2.5 hours to summit, being passed by a couple of others. As noted by prior poster, stay left as you near the top. We veered off to the right and got dicey with a lot of loose rocks. The walk down was equally as challenging for the knees/thighs as opposed to the lungs. It was quite an accomplishment for for this flat lander and my daughter to turn 15 tomorrow. Incredible hike, wonderful views, awesome challenge!

What a beautiful beast of a mountain! We got 3/4 the way up the west ridge and were chased off by rain! And it was only 8:30 in the morning-It was still spectacular to stand on the shoulder of this giant! I will be back...

Started from Cordova Pass around 9:30am, reached treeline around 10:30am, summit at 12:30pm and back to car at 3:30pm. Smoke from the NM fires made things a bit hazy. While heading down it got cold, windy and ice pellets fell heavily at times. Descending the talus felt numbingly slow as I wanted to get out from being a lightning rod. Also the cell service is great throughout the climb.

Hiked up West Spanish Peak over a Memorial Day holiday with my dad and Doug Nash. The stories of how the Spanish Peaks came into being were quite interesting. Extremely windy on top, but the completely dry trail helped my companions. This was an unforgettable day for me.